The Block Island Wind Farm Will Be the First Located Offshore in North America

GE and Deepwater Wind are working together to build the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

It’s kind of a big deal because it represents the first ever offshore wind farm in North America, a move that is promising to lower the world’s energy consumption in the future.

The Block Island Wind Farm will consist of five monstrous wind turbines nestled in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, doing its part to minimize the massive energy consumption of the United States, which makes up 18% of the entire world’s total energy consumption.

While the wind farm won’t be fully functional until November 2016, it is expected to be finished by the end of the month.

Offshore wind farms generally feature bigger turbines than farms located on land, meaning they can generate way more energy over time.

In the case of the Block Island Wind Farm, each turbine will be capable of generating 6 megawatts of energy during its lifecycle, or roughly enough energy to power 5,000 homes.

Even more impressive is the fact that each individual turbine produces 21,000 fewer tons of CO2 than fossil fuels to ultimately produce the same amount of energy.

Take a look at the images below to see everything that’s going into installing the Block Island Wind Farm 30 miles off the coast.